Constantine the Great

The Museum series continues with Roman Emperor Constantine the Great. Fun Facts: Constantine was the first Christian Roman Emperor (a turning point for the Christian Church). Constantinople was named after him and was the first Christian city in the world.

This print also continues my experimentation with applying color by tapping ink onto the plate. This go round I discovered you can't work the plate too long or your colored ink will start to dry to the plate. I worked the plate for about three hours and had all the highlights and shadows in copper patina greens and rust in browns and oranges, and unfortunately much of that detail stayed on the plate and did not transfer to the print. I think the print is still successful, but its not as opaque or detailed as I'd anticipated. But that's all part of printmaking; you never know exactly what you're going to get.



This is the copper plate with the residual ink still on it. Better than the print? You decide.